From a column by Kathryn Jean Lopez, senior fellow at the National Review Institute:

This year’s March for Life came on the 50th anniversary of a clarion call by Pope Paul VI to consider what the sexual revolution might be doing to men, women, marriage and life. …

While people often view the church as a place of prohibition, Cardinal Timothy Michael Dolan offered a positive alternative: There is another way to live.

To appreciate the full meaning of Dolan’s invitation, take a moment to consider the scene. Year after year, and increasingly, these young people who attend the March for Life are joyful. They want something better for themselves, their friends and people around the world they’ll never meet. They come from Catholic schools and they come from the likes of Harvard — Kelly, a gal from that institution’s right to life group, had one of the most radiant smiles I encountered at the event. And it is not just the young people. One of the most tender moments I witnessed during Mass was an older, ailing woman in a wheelchair, participating in the ceremony, aided by a young woman whom she embraced with loving gratitude as they reached her spot in front of a row of pews. The message here was love.

The March for Life, which includes politicians and activists, isn’t about partisan politics. It isn’t even fully about opposition — though there is certainly clarity, determination and prayerful pleading about the pain and suffering that abortion has brought. It’s about love (the theme this year was “Love Saves Lives”) — about wanting something better, insisting on something better, and most importantly about extending a hand to anyone who has been hurt by four decades of this pain inflicted on women, men and generations.